“Fifty Shades of Green” author E.L. James discusses Irish husband

Author of erotic romance series said she wrote her books to spice up her sex life with her Irish-born husband.

The author of "Fifty Shades of Grey” says she wrote her books to spice up her sex life with her Irish-born husband Niall Leonard.

Ericka Mitchell aka E. L. James says, “I wrote it for me. This was my mid-life crisis."

The first of her S&M books is now a feature length movie starting Irish star Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson. While getting mixed reviews, the movie is still bringing in audiences around the world.

James explained that she wrote her first book, of the three part series, after reading hundreds of erotic novels on her London subway commute every morning. She decided she could do a lot better.

She certainly has with a multi-million dollar movie deal and a huge six-figure advance for her next book. All over the world women flocked to bookstores and Amazon.com to buy or download the steamy best seller.

James has been happily married for nearly 25 years to the Northern Ireland native and script writer Niall Leonard who, she says, reads every word she writes and doesn’t flinch.

"We have a very happy marriage," James adds. "We annoy the hell out of each other, but generally we get on really well."

They write in their separate rooms in their London home. She says the only times she was worried was when her young son crept up on her and saw an explicit passage on her screen.

(Perhaps she went: "Oh my!" like her lead female character Anastaia Steele does when she is about to embark on another kinky evening with her beau, Christian Grey.)

The books revolve around their kinky relationship as Amazon.com notes. “Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. Grey admits he wants her, too – but on his own terms.

"Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.”

Mitchell says her 82-year old mother really enjoyed the book as did her best friend. They both really enjoyed it," she says. "They got swept along by the love story."

She won’t allow her sons to read the books. "Thank God, they don’t want to read it," she says. "They’re very proud of my success, but it’s not for them to read."

She was born in London to a Chilean mother and Scottish father. After college she became an assistant at the National Film and Television School in London. That was where she met her husband.

The catalyst for her writing was the "Twilight Saga" series of books which she loved. She asked Niall to buy her the four "Twilight Saga" books over Christmas and she read them in five days. "I loved, loved, loved them," she says. "I started writing in January."

However, she had difficulty getting published and only a small Australian publisher would oblige. Soon, however, through word of mouth, the books went viral.